WEB FOCUS

Synthetic systems biology

In this focus

Synthetic biology goes beyond classic genetic engineering as it attempts to engineer living systems to perform new functions not found in nature. Ten years ago this week, Nature published a pair of seminal papers that stimulated 'systems biology' thinking in the field. This web focus gathers these two papers together with papers more recently published by Nature in the same spirit.

Video

By synchronising our clocks, we can coordinate our activities with people around the world. Now, scientists have engineered bacteria to synchronise their molecular timekeepers, creating the stunning fluorescent flashes you see in this video.